Which detracts more from used guitar/bass value?

[Turdus]

Assuming 2 guitars, or basses, played about the same, which would detract more from the value?

Refin, or changed parts?

[cynic]

What would matter most to me is the quality and reason for either. "Upgrading" to Seymour Duncan pickups detracts from value in my opinion, but a quality refin (including one that replaced most O'Connor graphics) could be a plus.

For me, both can add or subtract value depending on what you're looking for, so it's hard to answer without specific examples of each.

The easiest way to look at it is this....original parts can be put back, original paint can't.

[JohnnyB]

The one that really kills resale is broken headstock. As for the two choices in the survey I'd think it depends on the situation. You don't want a refin on any pre-CBS Fender or same-era Gibson. If it's a true historical collector guitar, a refin is not reversible; parts swap usually is reversible unless we're talking about a a '58 LP Std routed for a Floyd. It could also depend on how hard it is to restore. It's not cheap or easy to restore pickups and original parts to a '50s Gibson or Fender.

[marcnorth]

For me anything after 1970 the missing/changed parts would detract more. I would take a good quality refinish over missing/changed parts. If we're talking "true" vintage guitars or basses I would have to say the refinish detracts more. I wouldn't buy anything with a beat to hell headstock unless the intention was to refinish it.

[Armitage]

With a pro refin, I always assume the worst has happened to it before hand.

[tbonesullivan]

Pro refin. Parts can almost always be changed back if needed, but I'm buying guitars to play, not collect, so as long as it's a good bridge, tuners, pickup, etc that I like, I don't really give a crap as long as the guitar wasn't butchered in the process.

With a refin, like stated above, you always have to wonder if something horrible happened to it that the refin was used to cover up. Of course, it's all situational. If you know the original owner and they are the one who refinished it, you have a better chance of knowing why it was refinished, such as it had horrible buckle rash on the back from a previous owner, or someone managed to spray it with OFF at an outdoor concert, which pretty much melts nitrocellulose.

One thing that I consider an annoyance is SMOKE SMELL. I hate it. It gets on your hands when you play. it takes a long time to get it out of the case and out of the guitar. It's just a PITA to deal with. It is something that should, IMHO, always be mentioned by an honest seller, but I've found that even places like Elderly music won't make a mention of it. I bought an SB-2 from there some years back, and I got it home, opened the box, took it out and opened it, and went upstairs to get a strap. By the time I was back downstairs I could smell it from 10 feet away. After cleaning the heck out of the inside and outside of the case, polishing the entire exterior of the guitar, and bombing the case with arm and hammer carpet deoderizer/baking soda, now it doesn't smell like smoke anymore.

[zorrow]

I assume you're not talking about Kahler-ing or Floyd-ing or any kind of butchering.

I vote refin. It means almost always that something wrong happened to the guitar previous to it.

[crunchee]

Pro refin. Parts can almost always be changed back if needed, but I'm buying guitars to play, not collect, so as long as it's a good bridge, tuners, pickup, etc that I like, I don't really give a crap as long as the guitar wasn't butchered in the process.

With a refin, like stated above, you always have to wonder if something horrible happened to it that the refin was used to cover up. Of course, it's all situational. If you know the original owner and they are the one who refinished it, you have a better chance of knowing why it was refinished, such as it had horrible buckle rash on the back from a previous owner, or someone managed to spray it with OFF at an outdoor concert, which pretty much melts nitrocellulose.

One thing that I consider an annoyance is SMOKE SMELL. I hate it. It gets on your hands when you play. it takes a long time to get it out of the case and out of the guitar. It's just a PITA to deal with. It is something that should, IMHO, always be mentioned by an honest seller, but I've found that even places like Elderly music won't make a mention of it. I bought an SB-2 from there some years back, and I got it home, opened the box, took it out and opened it, and went upstairs to get a strap. By the time I was back downstairs I could smell it from 10 feet away. After cleaning the heck out of the inside and outside of the case, polishing the entire exterior of the guitar, and bombing the case with arm and hammer carpet deoderizer/baking soda, now it doesn't smell like smoke anymore.

Bug repellent (Edited "spray" to "repellent", I wouldn't want to poison anyone!) isn't the only thing that can melt a nitro finish, vinyl will too. Many years ago, it wasn't unusual for cloth guitar straps to have a vinyl backing, and I think that some guitar cords (like the old 'curly' cords--relax, new ones shouldn't be vinyl) did too. Leave the strap on the guitar and put it in the case, and it can leave melty marks on the finish where the vinyl came into contact with the guitar.

Hell, vinyl doesn't even have to be in DIRECT contact with a nitro finish. I once got an old budget Harmony electric with a nitro finish, and it had been kept in a Ovation acoustic case (yes, it fit, at least along the top edges of the interior of the case). Guess what the pull-tab on Ovation case pockets is made of? The neck was about 1/2~3/4" over the tab and NOT in direct contact, but the vinyl STILL outgassed, and turned an area on the neck about the size of the pull-tab into tacky goo. The paint in that area never DID fully cure after I put it in a different case, and I wound up scraping off the gooey area.

As far as smoke smell goes, the only thing worse than that (besides anything left by an animal), is when somebody gives the guitar a bath in Febreze, or air freshener, or perfume, or a mixture of those. So, the guitar ends up smelling like smoke AND flowers, or whatever the masking spray is trying to fake.

[tbonesullivan]

As far as smoke smell goes, the only thing worse than that (besides anything left by an animal), is when somebody gives the guitar a bath in Febreze, or air freshener, or perfume, or a mixture of those. So, the guitar ends up smelling like smoke AND flowers, or whatever the masking spray is trying to fake.

that's why I like the stuff with baking soda. It really does suck up the old smell. And of course now I just keep the cases open in the basement, so eventually they should be smell free.